The travelling bug

Zanzibar called early Saturday morning and so we hauled ourselves out of bed, threw some clothes in a rucksack and made for the airport. Fortified by a chicken sandwich we clambered aboard the 12 seater plan and headed for the skies over Dar es Salaam.


(Dar from the air - quite the collection of tin roofs)
The tropical blue sea glimmered below as we approached the Zanzibar airport and we came screeching to a halt on the small island.


(approaching Zanzibar airport)

We tried a new hotel, once the pride of Stonetown, now sadly going a little downhill. It felt exotic all the same!

My sister and her boyfriend appeared a short while later and we explored the narrow streets, curio shops and colourful views that Stonetown had to offer.


(Narrow Stonetown streets)


(Curiosities in the curio shop)

Later we went for sundowners, only to find that cloud cover obscured the sunset. It didn't stop us sampling the cocktails though!

Sunday provided more of the same

(Zanzibar decorated door)


(View of Stonetown and it's art from above)

That afternoon when the sister headed to watch giant tortises on Prison Island and James and I tackled the aiport. I'd rather not recount the hot sweaty wait through queues of people dealing with a staff strike on a different airline to ours, or the 2hour wait for a visa in Nairobi or indeed the traffic on the way to our hotel. I suppose one advantage though is that I got to see the sun setting behind Mt Kilimanjaro from the air.


(taken from the plane as we passed the mountain top)

Instead, on to the beautiful hotel we discovered awaiting us in daylight the next morning. Nairobi was everything I hoped for, coming from Dar. Tall buildings, good shopping, great cafes and excellent food. We found it a little on the cold side and the lovely pool you see in the photo below nearly froze me to death. Something tells me I'm getting soft with all this tropical living!


(The hotel as seen just outside our room)


(The freezing swimming pool)


(Nairobi's tall buildings as viewed from the back of a cab)


All in all an excellent trip and a wonderful outing for the new camera.

(all photos me)